Silver Is More Precious Than Gold
by lavalieres
Summary: I once lusted for gold, and the power that came with it. But now I lust for silver and bronze. Destiny brought it to me, and I would not give it up, not even for the six gold treasures I seek. [Yami no Bakura x Ryou Bakura, oneshot, introspective]


**(A/N)** _I know I should be working on DCMP! but I had this little drabble floating around in my head for a little while and it wouldn't go away. Came up with this after reading an interesting little fact from a book on Ancient Egypt._

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I asked my parents to buy me Yuugiou for my birthday, but they thought it would be better to give me the _Return of the King_ Extended DVD. Not that I mind, though. So I am do not hold ownership of Yuugiou, but I've got my fingers crossed for Christmas!

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**Silver is More Precious than Gold**

**By Hales731**

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Gold. It's quite a pretty substance. A metal that can be easily molded to any shape and polished to a lustrous shine. 

People have lusted after the yellow metal for millennia. Whoever had the first idea to pound it into an ornament started a fashion trend that continues today.

Gold is the epitome of wealth. It has been used as bartering tools and formed into decretive baubles. The more gold a person had, the more wealth they had.

In the time of the Pharaohs, gold was just as precious as it is now. Only the richest of nobles and Pharaohs were able to bedeck themselves in a luminescence akin to sunlight.

Everyone has wanted gold at some point. Myself included. Bright, gleaming yellow was one of the reasons that I stole from the dead. Why have the dead wear such a costly commodity after they had left this world?

Despite thieving from the deceased, I did leave them some protection. Being Egyptian, I still followed the belief that the dead would need protective amulets to guard them in the afterlife. I may have defiled the pharaohs, but they still held their protective treasures. I believed, however, that if they were rich in life, they wouldn't need riches in the afterlife. Most would probably devoured be Ammit anyway for their evils.

I did not love gold for its value alone. I loved to touch it. Feel the cold smoothness on my skin. I enjoyed the weight it had on me, as it settled around my neck in a pretty ring.

But gold is not what I hold most precious. Then, maybe. Not now.

Silver. The color of radiant moonlight. Harder than gold, and now, more available. Just as cold and smooth.

Today, silver is common. Household utensils are fashioned of it. People have it pounded into their mouths. Anybody is able to have it dangle from their necks or from their ears. It is not nearly as high in value as gold is.

This was not so in Egypt. In my time, silver was more precious than gold. It was less accessible and far more difficult to come across. Commoners couldn't get it, and the pharaohs were hard pressed to find enough to forge into their baubles.

This was why I was unable to steal any. Only one pharaoh was able to make a final resting place of silver, and he was after my time. I was only able to gaze upon the dazzling gossamers of moonlight and starlight forged into a substance once.

But, now I have all the silver I ever desired. It does not dangle around my neck, nor is fashioned into eating utensils. No.

This silver I love more than anything I pilfered, and I had no need to take it from another. This silver came to me. Destiny brought it to me, and I would not give it up, not even for the six gold treasures I seek.

I have no need to beat it into a shape I see fit. It is already as I desire it, in smooth, silky radiance. It flows sleekly from my fingers, as they course through it.

This silver is tantalizing, beckoning me with shimmering chocolate bronze hidden beneath moonlight threads.

I forever long to run my hands over this silver, to smother it with touch, to feel it on my skin, smell the scent of starlight and loneliness.

The pharaoh can have his precious gold and shimmering amethyst. The lunatic can have his bloodied gold and iolite. I have something of better value. I have silver and bronze. I have Ryou.

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**(A/N)** _Yes, in Ancient Egypt, silver was more valuable than gold. The pharaoh that I was alluding to was Psusennes I, whose sarcophagus was made of pure silver. Info from Ancient Egypt: Art and Archaeology of the Land of the Pharaohs._  
_Iolite is also called Cordierite or Water Sapphire. It comes in shades of blue and violet._

_Please let me know you think, please review. _


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